History of Math Flashcards
(91 cards)
1
Q
What is the Greek word for ‘to study’ or ‘to learn’?
A
mathemata
2
Q
What is the Filipino term for Mathematics?
A
Sipnayan
3
Q
What time period does the Stone Age cover?
A
20,000 BCE – 2,000 BCE
4
Q
What is the significance of the Isango Bone?
A
20,000 years old; contains a series of notches indicating counting
5
Q
How old is the Lebombo Bone and where was it found?
A
40,000 years old; near South Africa
6
Q
What mathematical concepts were developed in Chinese Civilization?
A
- Negative numbers
- Decimal fractions
7
Q
What is the sexagesimal number system?
A
Base 60 number system used by the Sumerians/Babylonians
8
Q
What are counters in ancient Mesopotamia?
A
Small, three-dimensional clay objects representing quantities
9
Q
What is the significance of Mesopotamian Tablets?
A
Oldest known clay tablet with mathematical computations, created around 2700 BCE
10
Q
When was the Sumerian Multiplication Table created?
A
Around 2600 BCE
11
Q
What is the Rhind Papyrus?
A
Famous mathematical document from ancient Egypt, written around 1550 BCE
12
Q
Who was Menna in the context of ancient Egypt?
A
Chief scribe in charge of measuring fields and calculating taxes
13
Q
What concept did Indian Civilization introduce in Mathematics?
A
Concept of zero to denote absence or emptiness
14
Q
Who is known as the first true Mathematician?
A
Thales of Miletus
15
Q
What theorem is named after Thales?
A
Thales’ Theorem
16
Q
What did Pythagoras of Samos believe about the universe?
A
Everything in the universe can be represented by numbers
17
Q
What is Zeno of Elea known for?
A
Famous paradoxes, including the Paradox of Motion
18
Q
Who is often referred to as the Father of Medicine?
A
Hippocrates of Chios
19
Q
What did Eudoxus of Cnidus develop?
A
The method of exhaustion, laying the foundation for integral calculus
20
Q
What is Euclid of Alexandria known for?
A
Father of Geometry; wrote ‘The Elements’
21
Q
What is the significance of the Bamboo Multiplication Table?
A
Oldest known decimal multiplication table created around 2300 years ago
22
Q
What method did Archimedes use to find the volume of irregular objects?
A
Water Displacement Method
23
Q
Who calculated the circumference of the earth?
A
Eratosthenes of Cyrene
24
Q
What is the Suàn shù shū?
A
Book on Numbers and Computation, one of the oldest mathematical manuscripts from China
25
Who is known as the Father of Trigonometry?
Hipparchus of Nicaea
26
What did Archimedes discover about Pi?
Approximation of Pi
27
What is the significance of Aryabhata?
One of the first Mathematicians of the Golden Age of Indian Mathematics
28
Who is considered the Father of Algebra?
Muhammad Al-Khwarizmi
29
What is the book 'Ars Magna' known for?
First definitive work on Algebra by Girolamo Cardano
30
What did Blaise Pascal develop?
An early version of the mechanical calculator called Pascaline
31
Who independently developed Calculus alongside Isaac Newton?
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
32
What is the significance of the Bernoulli family in mathematics?
Contributions to probability and statistics, including the Law of Large Numbers
33
Who was the first Western woman to write a mathematics textbook?
Maria Gaetana Agnesi
34
What is the Mohr-Mascheroni Theorem?
A theorem in geometry named after Lorenzo Mascheroni
35
What did Carl Friedrich Gauss contribute to mathematics?
Foundational work in number theory and statistics
36
Who is known as the Father of Differential Geometry?
French Mathematician
## Footnote
Introduced the concept of lines of curvature on surfaces in 3D space; invented orthographic projection and descriptive geometry.
37
What theorem is Lorenzo Mascheroni known for?
Mohr-Mascheroni Theorem
## Footnote
The Euler-Mascheroni constant is named after him.
38
Which mathematician is referred to as the Newton of France?
Pierre-Simon Laplace
## Footnote
Translated problems in celestial mechanics from geometry to calculus and proposed that the solar system developed from a rotating disk of dust.
39
What notable achievement did Carl Friedrich Gauss accomplish at the age of 10?
Added the first 100 counting numbers in seconds
## Footnote
Known as the Prince of Mathematics.
40
What theorem did Marie-Sophie Germain lay the foundations for?
Fermat’s Last Theorem
## Footnote
Also contributed to the Mathematics of Elastic Surfaces.
41
What title is Mary Somerville known by?
Queen of Science
## Footnote
Recognized for her discovery of Neptune.
42
What is the Möbius strip?
Non-orientable 2D surface with only one side
## Footnote
Discovered by August Ferdinand Möbius.
43
What is the significance of Augustin-Louis Cauchy in mathematics?
Pioneer of Complex Analysis
## Footnote
Advanced Algebra and Calculus.
44
Who is considered the Father of the Computer?
Charles Babbage
## Footnote
Invented the difference/analytical engine, the first mechanical computer.
45
Who is recognized as the first computer programmer?
Ada Lovelace
## Footnote
An English Mathematician.
46
Which mathematician contributed to Non-Euclidean Geometry?
Nikolai Lobachevsky
## Footnote
One of the founders of this field.
47
What did János Bolyai contribute to mathematics?
Non-Euclidean Geometry
## Footnote
He was one of the founders of this field.
48
What are Abelian functions and groups associated with?
Niels Henrik Abel
## Footnote
Also known for proving the binomial theorem.
49
What do De Morgan Laws explain?
Transform logical relationships in set theory
## Footnote
Named after Augustus De Morgan.
50
What are quaternions?
First example of a non-commutative algebra
## Footnote
Invented by William Rowan Hamilton.
51
Which mathematician is known for the study of elliptic functions?
Carl Jacobi
## Footnote
One of the pioneers in this area.
52
What did Évariste Galois invent?
Group theory and Galois theory
## Footnote
Significant contributions to abstract algebra.
53
Who developed matrix algebra?
Arthur Cayley
## Footnote
A British Mathematician and Lawyer.
54
What is Boolean Algebra?
Uses and, or, and not as operators
## Footnote
Developed by George Boole.
55
Who is known as the Father of Modern Analysis?
Karl Weierstrass
## Footnote
His work laid the groundwork for analysis.
56
What is Florence Nightingale known for in statistics?
Use of pie charts and evaluating treatments
## Footnote
One of the first to apply statistics in healthcare.
57
What is the Riemann Hypothesis?
One of the 23 mathematical problems
## Footnote
Proposed by Bernhard Riemann, related to prime numbers.
58
Who defined real numbers, number fields, and rings?
Richard Dedekind
## Footnote
His work established foundational concepts in mathematics.
59
Who is considered the Father of Set Theory?
Georg Cantor
## Footnote
Established Set Theory as a separate field of Mathematics.
60
What is significant about Sofia Kovalevskaya?
First woman to earn a modern doctorate in Mathematics
## Footnote
A trailblazer for women in the field.
61
What did Henri Poincaré contribute to mathematics?
Topology and Geometry
## Footnote
Known as The Last Universalist.
62
What was the purpose of the set of 23 unsolved mathematical problems compiled by David Hilbert?
To challenge mathematicians
## Footnote
7 of the problems have been solved as of now.
63
What is Albert Einstein famous for in physics?
Photoelectric effect and Brownian motion
## Footnote
Introduced special relativity.
64
What did Lazare Carnot theorize?
Theory of Transversals
## Footnote
Related to geometry and mathematics.
65
What does the Epsilon-delta definition relate to?
Definition of limits
## Footnote
Developed by Bernard Bolzano.
66
Who introduced the word 'pole' in Projective Geometry?
François-Joseph Servois
## Footnote
His contributions impacted geometry.
67
Who invented the telephone?
Alexander Graham Bell
## Footnote
The decibel was named after him.
68
What is the significance of Elbert Cox in mathematics?
First African-American Mathematician to receive a PhD
## Footnote
A pioneer in the field.
69
What did Andrey Kolmogorov contribute to?
Probability Theory
## Footnote
Used statistics to predict bombings in Moscow.
70
What is John von Neumann known for?
Pioneer of quantum mechanics
## Footnote
His work laid the foundation for many modern theories.
71
Who is recognized as the Father of Modern Differential Geometry?
Shiing-Shen Chern
## Footnote
His contributions advanced the field significantly.
72
Who is Alan Turing?
Father of Computer Science
## Footnote
His work laid the groundwork for modern computing.
73
What is Claude Shannon known for?
Father of Information Theory
## Footnote
His work revolutionized communication and data processing.
74
What did Katherine Johnson calculate?
Orbital trajectories
## Footnote
Her calculations were critical for NASA's missions.
75
Who was the first female Mathematician elected to the US National Academy of Sciences?
Julia Robinson
## Footnote
Also the first female president of the American Mathematical Society.
76
Who proved Fermat’s Last Theorem?
Andrew Wiles
## Footnote
A significant achievement in modern mathematics.
77
What is the significance of Ingrid Daubechies in mathematics?
First female president of the International Mathematical Union
## Footnote
A pioneer in wavelet theory.
78
What did Grigori Perelman prove?
Poincare Conjecture
## Footnote
A major milestone in topology.
79
What is Terence Tao known for?
Mozart of Mathematics
## Footnote
Youngest ever winner of the International Mathematical Olympiad.
80
What is Maryam Mirzakhani recognized for?
First woman to receive the Fields Medal
## Footnote
A major achievement in mathematics.
81
Who was the first Latin-American to receive the Fields Medal?
Artur Avila
## Footnote
His work has been influential in dynamical systems.
82
What did Charles Richter develop?
Magnitude scale to determine the strength of earthquakes
## Footnote
Known as the Richter Scale.
83
What is the Linear Programming Method used for?
To find the optimal values of a linear function subject to constraints
## Footnote
Invented by George Dantzig.
84
Who is known as the Father of Modern Problem Solving?
George Polya
## Footnote
His methods are widely taught in mathematics education.
85
What is the Fields Medal?
Counterpart of the Nobel Prize for Mathematics
## Footnote
Named after John Charles Fields.
86
What is Linear Algebra?
Field of Mathematics widely used in computer programs nowadays (AI)
## Footnote
Fundamental for many applications in science and engineering.
87
What is the Vigesimal Number System?
Base 20
## Footnote
Used by Celtics and Innuits.
88
What is the Hexadecimal Number System?
Base 16
## Footnote
Commonly used in computing.
89
What is the Octogesimal Number System?
Base 80
## Footnote
Less commonly used in mathematics.
90
Who is the Patron Saint of Mathematicians?
St. Hubert
## Footnote
Recognized for his contributions to the field.
91
What is the obelus?
Division symbol (÷)
## Footnote
Commonly used in arithmetic.
